One afternoon Sunshine was in a reflective mood
She emailed: “My life has been about the promises
I have made and a desire to keep them.
I wish I was different though....women, who don't,
Seem to have a better time!
And men find them so desirable”
I prodded her on and she emailed back:
“Maybe I am blabbering...but I see women who don’t
Make any promises or constantly break them
Are happy, and men find them alluring”
This was the second time
She had alluded to men who’ll always be boys
Finding certain kinds of women attractive
I didn’t want to read in between the lines
(Could have been presumptuous)
But felt like empathising with her
I said those who appear to be footloose
And fancy-free deep inside are weighed down
By a debilitating emptiness
Kundera called this "the unbearable lightness of being"
Sunshine, sort of, cheered up
And wrote: “Nothing changes
I have things to do, places to go
And many promises to keep”

And so ended our chit-chat
On a balmy October afternoon
But before that I asked her
To email a smile
Which I received
By the return mail…